Prime Minister Stephen Harper is slapping a moratorium on new Senate appointments just weeks before a federal election campaign, looking to shore up his party’s position on the file and force provinces into accepting reforms or abolition for the scandal-plagued upper chamber.

Harper announced Friday he will not appoint senators to a red chamber that already has 22 vacancies as long as the government can continue passing legislation – something he said shouldn’t be a problem for several years.

The prime minister said refusing to appoint senators to the upper chamber will save taxpayers money and hopefully pressure provinces – most of which have resisted major reforms and abolition – to finally accepting significant changes to the Senate.

“We will have a moratorium on further Senate appointments,” Harper told reporters in Regina at a news conference with Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who favours abolition.

“It will force the provinces, over time, who as you know have been resistant to any reforms in most cases, to either come up with a plan of comprehensive reform or to conclude that the only way to deal with the status quo is abolition. So that is the path we’re going to take.”

The prime minister said Canadians are divided on whether to reform or abolish the Senate, but they will not accept the status quo. Harper noted he has not appointed a senator for more than two years, and said Canadians don’t seem to have noticed.

“Other than some voices in the Senate, and some people who want to be appointed to the Senate, no one is going to complain,” Harper said. “I think that’s going to put increased pressure on the provinces.”

“They’ve got a chance, the ball is in their court. They can now propose reforms,” Harper added.

“In the meantime, the membership in the Senate is going to continue to shrink and Canadians are going to ask the question ‘If you don’t have a program for reform, and we’re not missing the senators, why not just abolish it?’ And I think that’s the pressure that’s going to rise.”

Harper’s government had initially proposed Senate elections in the provinces and term limits for senators, in an effort to democratize the chamber and bring it more legitimacy. The prime minister promised to appoint senators from a list of nominees chosen by provincial voters, as he has done with a handful of appointments from Alberta.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Taylor

In 2013, the Conservative government sought clarity from the country’s top court on Senate reform, referring the matter to the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of limiting Senate terms to eight, nine or 10 years; how to go about electing senators; and potential options for abolishing the Senate, among other items.

The Supreme Court, in its ruling last year, slammed the door on that approach, saying the federal government needs the agreement of seven provinces with half the country’s population to move on even modest reforms like term limits and Senate elections in the provinces.

The top court said that abolishing the Senate requires the unanimous agreement of all provinces, the support of the House of Commons – and backing from the upper chamber itself.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court also said the upper chamber’s powers and number of senators are entrenched in the Constitution, so the Senate can’t be indirectly eliminated by refusing to appoint senators or, as the NDP has suggested, defunding the institution.

“Significant reform and abolition are off the table,” Harper said after the 2014 top court ruling. He called it a “decision for the status quo.”

Harper’s moratorium comes with a federal election campaign just weeks away, and amid continued controversy in an upper chamber facing one of the biggest crises in its existence.

The prime minister’s moratorium announcement’s also comes in the middle of the trial of suspended senator and former Conservative Mike Duffy, who faces 31 charges, including fraud, breach of trust and bribery related to alleged improper Senate expense claims and a move by Harper’s then-chief of staff to repay them.

Along with Duffy, former Conservative senators Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau are also suspended without pay. Brazeau faces charges of fraud and breach of trust related to his Senate living expenses, while Wallin is being investigated by the Mounties over her Senate travel expenses. Retired Liberal senator Mac Harb also faces fraud charges.

Moreover, a scathing report last month from the federal auditor general flagged 30 senators for problematic or questionable expense claims totalling almost $1 million, including nine current and former senators whose files have been referred to the RCMP.

Of those nine, two are sitting senators: former Conservative Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu (who recently resigned from the Tory caucus) and Senate Liberal Colin Kenny.

Another group of 21 senators – including Speaker Leo Housakos, Conservative Senate Leader Claude Carignan, and Liberal Senate Leader James Cowan – were named in Auditor General Michael Ferguson’s report for thousands of dollars in questionable spending.

Also, Sen. Don Meredith resigned from the Conservative caucus last month following allegations he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl, and his case has been sent to the Senate ethics officer.

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